1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates generally to burial containers. In certain aspects, the invention also relates to burial systems and methods of burial.
2. Description of the Related Art
The Islamic faith requires the dead to be buried without being encased in a casket, with the body in full contact with the soil, and lying on its left side facing Mecca. The true compass line from the body must align precisely with Mecca. Currently, the alignment is determined by surveying methods and then certified by clerics of the Islamic Faith before the burial field will be consecrated for use. The Jewish faith also has classes of believers who believe that the body should be buried in full contact with the earth below, although the orientation of the grave is not required to be in a particular alignment.
Conventional caskets, crypts and other burial containers are problematic since they separate the body from the earth. Examples of such burial containers are found in, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,453,626 issued to Weilin et al; U.S. Pat. No. 4,476,657 issued to Juba et al.; and U.S. Pat. No. 4,099,353 issued to Blunt.
While it is possible to bury human remains directly without a casket or container such is not possible within the cemetery laws extending to perpetual care cemeteries in the United States and some foreign countries. Existing operators have provided burial of members of the Islamic and Jewish faiths but as yet have not done so providing full contact with the ground and doing so with the burial field established and consecrated before need. Existing operators have not established and constructed large burial fields by placing a number of containers in the ground and then covering them, landscaping and marking them in advance of need. Existing operators tend to excavate burial plots either singly or in number and then backfilling to return the land to its former elevation. This creates a problem in that drainage cannot be directed away from the burial container and the result is containers will fill with water and contamination can occur as decomposition advances.
The present invention is directed to overcoming the problems of the prior art.